China scolds ambassador over Dalai Lama

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The Chinese government scolded the U.S. ambassador to Beijing Thursday for the honors Washington bestowed on the Dalai Lama this week.

At a news briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi summoned U.S. ambassador Clark Randt to complain about the Dalai Lama's Washington visit where he met with President George Bush and received the Congressional Gold Medal.

China claims Tibet "is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory," Liu said, and said the U.S. actions "have severely trampled on the norms of international relations and violated the U.S. government's reiterated position on the Tibet issue," the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

"The words and deeds of the Dalai Lama in the past decades show he is a political refugee engaged in secessionist activities in the camouflage of religion," Liu said.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to make several speeches in the United States before heading to Canada on the weekend.